NASW Action Alert: Ask your U.S. Representative to cosponsor the School Social Workers Improving Student Success Act
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Social workers have long been an essential workforce in our nation’s preK-12 schools, providing a broad range of services aimed at helping students succeed in school and life. They help students, families and educators address their social, emotional, and practical needs. School social workers have been essential during the pandemic. They continue to play a key role in helping students recover from the devastating educational, psychosocial, and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The School Social Workers Improving Student Success Act (H.R. 7037) is a key step in increasing the availability of social work services in schools.
The School Social Workers Improving Student Success Act (H.R. 7037) amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a grant program to secure and retain school social workers. The legislation will:
- Provide for grants to elementary and secondary schools to hire and retain the minimum ratio of one school social worker for every 250 students and one school social worker for every 50 students for high need areas
- Establish the National Technical Assistance Center for School Social Work which would provide strategies on improving the effectiveness of school social work, identify areas of improvement for school social work programs, work with agencies on disseminating data on best practices, and establish school social work development programing.
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Author: Amelia Lochner Malavé
NASW-NYS